Building The Burrow!

Pearla*Merle

Righty, back to start catching up properly. Firstly :wave: and thanks for all the well wishes, folks Lists and updated thoughts on plans of action to follow in a moment.

newgirly wrote: »

Love the pj top, I actually bought that and the matching bottoms in royal blue a couple of weeks ago

Why am I not surprised, what ladies of good taste are we

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

I once left the dry cleaning bag in with the charity shop bags. When I realised, it was about a week later!

Dear me! Did you ever get any of it back?! :eek:

newgirly, mouche & Hbbb - we're looking mostly to the west and north/west of the big smoke, Mr M would be getting all sorts of travel discounts with the job (public transport deals & car expenses available), so that will determine areas we look at. Plus finding somewhere that makes for easy travel for me. Mouche, I shall PM you before long for tips, I daresay

Hbbb, not seaside sarf, alas! I so miss the sea! But am planning some jaunts down the coast already, I literally can't wait.

Turns out we may hear more about time frames re: new job start in the next week or so, we might be down there by mid-July which would be a lot sooner than I thought, yikes! Better start getting a move on. :eek:

Pearla*Merle

*deep breath* Ok. Here are the current plans of action. Apologies for any repetitions.

My New Job
It's all going well, Hbbb you'll be glad to hear that there has been decadent use of highlighters and post it notes over the past couple of weeks. I'm now graduating to folders and dividers, ooh err. Have been laying a lot of groundwork for projects that'll kick off in the next week or so, exciting times. Hopefully they'll produce some good results for the company, so crossing all fingers and toes there.

Current plan is just to go with the flow with this in regards to moving down the road. I'll travel back up during the week and stay two or three nights up here. I have some other self employment-related sources of income which should pay for this travel, so in effect I shouldn't feel the effects of the cost too greatly. This new job has a lot of scope to be flexible, possibly work from home if I were to take on more hours etc and has a lot of career potential so I'd love to keep it going. Whether it works long term, who knows, but it's great experience and the weekly commute shouldn't be too taxing, I won't really know until I do it and see how it goes.

NB: I shall continue with my additional self employment plans as state previously. Who knows, the long journeys every week might see me finding a good chunk of time to tick off some writing etc.

Actually Buying A House And Officially Being MFW
This absolutely won't be happening any time soon now we're heading somewhere that'd need an extra £100-200k slapped on the mortgage. :rotfl: More seriously, unless Mr M is able to get a promotion where he'd be (hopefully it works out that way), then in a couple of years he'd be looking to move up the ladder which would probably mean another move so no point buying unless we know where we're going to be for a good while. So...

May The Buy To Let Adventures Begin!
Possibly. There are probably two parts to this. 1) If we end up living down sarf long term then we're going to need to scrape everything we can together for a deposit, so all monies may have to be directed towards this.

2) I really do need to start putting something aside as a pension pot (which is what my BTL plans are), and if we're not going to be buying soon then maybe doing this sooner rather than later is something I should think about. This also breaks down into two options - a) I go into partnership with family on a BTL in the next couple of years or b) I put money aside as a BTL fund and try and get one in more like 5 years or so.

Mr M & I also had a chat about various future plans the other night, he's also keen on BTL adventures, so option b might be something we do together in a few years.

I'd probably still look to get property up here or where my parents live as I know the areas & could maybe do a deal with family members to help look after them etc, but it all depends where we end up.

At the moment nothing is going to move quickly since there's so much other stuff going on, so I'll just keep saving until life calms down and I can investigate things properly given new circumstances. Savings will all now be labelled BTL fund until further notice though.

So, nothing concrete but plans are forming... new post for the rest?

Habibiboo

:wave:

Wow, masses to think about in all contexts there P*M, thrilled for you that things are not only panning out but also that you can keep your current job and other prospects going at the same time.

Great news on both counts of being able to possibly work from home at times and of being able to use travel time productively with writing and projects :T Also very glad to hear that stationery is coming into its own in this vital planning phase!

BTL adventures interests and scares me in equal measures (flat over the road from us is for sale and I would love to be able to buy it as a pension BTL) so will be very keen to hear all about your thoughts and progress with that. Buying somewhere you have family to help out sounds like a great idea and maximises the potential of getting a friend-of-a-friend or family tenant in, which might be less hassle.

Good luck for Mr P*M for next week but hope you both manage to get a happy, relaxed bank holiday weekend and take some time out together before it all gets frantic!

Big hugs and well wishes to you both! x

Pearla*Merle

Righty, moving down. We're starting to get a nice idea of areas and costs. Hard not to weep at our rent almost tripling but hey ho. At least with the southern-weighted salary we won't see too much of a difference, and with our thrifty ways bills & life adventures should remain similar to the way things are now.

I've realised I've changed quite markedly in wanting to return to a more simple life - not having to deal with lots of clutter (either physical or mental/emotional or work wise) is liberating and makes it easier to move about and brings me closer to financial freedom and having the time to do the things I want to do. Get rid of the blocks and life rushes in, that kind of thing. This is all making it easier to move, and indeed knowing we'll definitely be moving is making it easier and easier to shed the excess.

I think a list is in order for moving-related shenanigans

• Declutter alcohol hoard, who wants to lug loads of bottles about? First stop: finish pimms
• Declutter random stuff in cupboards I can't be bothered to move
• Declutter Sky box (may ditch Sky TV for a while)
• Declutter lingering bath lotions & potions as much as possible
• Finish library books, also a few unread books on shelves
• Look out for more charity shop stuff
• Get rid of no longer needed work stuff (this is an epic task)
• Box up a few things that the parents are going to look after for a while
• Get hair cut cheaply while I can!
• Dentist appointment

Pearla*Merle

Not done a general catch up for a while. It's just been work, sleep, a few birthdays last weekend which were fun but knackered me out. During the week a family member became quite dangerously ill which, although not unexpected, was pretty alarming. They're out of danger zone, but it's just a waiting game now

Did ok on the first list of today, will crack on with the rest of it over the weekend. Forgot about my currant buns.

:www: MFW Wonderment: a little 1Polling done (mouche, you'll be miles ahead of me now); found another couple of pennies on the street which have gone into the kittybank; have kept up the packed lunches; haven't spent monies despite some serious temptation coming my way.

:coffee: Simple Pleasures: grey wagtails seem to have moved in somewhere nearby

:heartsmil Burrow Building: some nice nights out; now life is finally settling down and we're both much happier with work stuff we're both starting to find we have more energy so I'm looking forward to some nice evenings popping to the pub, walks, board games, you name it.

Pearla*Merle

Ooh, I worked on my budget today! Going to note these down quickly before I forget....

Every week:
£5 Fun & Games (little treats to myself - to remind myself I'm not poverty stricken)
£5 Clothes (will let this mount up & try and use for next pair of shoes)
£5 Toiletries (if this doesn't get used then I'll shift into savings)
£40 BTL fund, will top up with any leftover monthly monies (hoping to raise to £60+ by the end of the year)

Things to think about...
Birthdays/Xmas: use Amazon vouchers for these, will probably need to work out small fund at some point though
Cat: I really oh so badly want a kitten catten. I may start a small fund for this (could end up being where the F&G money goes tho!)
Slush Fund: shall work out some kind of emergency/surplus fund for odds and ends ie. dentist visits etc
Holiday: Mr M wants to go on a decent holiday, but I won't need to think about this until next year.
Haircuts: don't have to pay much for these currently, kind of hoping I can keep that arrangement going.

Have started my spending diary up again so I can keep track, must get back into the habit of writing in it.

muddywhitechicken

:wave: P*M

Just catching up - congratulations to you both - very exciting times ahead

MWCx

gallygirl

Love the decluttering strategy :beer:.

Commiserations on family member, hope all goes as well as it can.

GG x

apple_muncher

Golly gosh, PM! So much change ahead! So exciting!

Love the idea of having a slush fund - but surely it shouldn't be to fund stuff like the dentist? Unless of course you're planning on having bling on your teeth...:D

in_need_of_direction

Lots of opportunities for hair academy cuts in the city.